Self-propelled projectile for distributing material



JEPPSON M. SELF-PROPELLED PROJECTILE FOR DISTRIBUTING MATERIALS Filed Oct. 27, 1944 July 19, 1949.

Patented July 19, '1.949

SELF-PROPELLED PROJECTILE FOR DISTRIBUTIN G MATERIAL 3 Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 r0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates generally to methods and devices for distributing material, and speciiically to a projectile for automatically releasing and distributing material at intervals during the travel of the projectile.

Certain military operations require the release or distribution of quantities of material of various types over selected portions of enemy territory. This material must be distributed and released in the air in such manner that it will iioat slowly to the earth. Heretoiore, such operations were usually carried out by merely dumping the material in batches at successive intervals or all at once from an airplane flying over enemy-held territory. This procedure has been found undesirable for a number of reasons, the main objection being that the airplane must necessarily expose itself to anti-aircraft fire, which is bound to be intense over the areas upon which the material must be distributed.

It is an object of my invention to provide a device which will automatically release quantities of material in the air at desired intervals.

It is another object of my invention to provide a method for automatically releasing quantities of material at desired intervals in the air.

Other objectives and advantages will become apparent as the following description is read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which is illustrated a side View partly in section of one embodiment of my invention. It is to be understood, however, that this embodiment merely serves as an illustration of the underlying principles of the invention so that they may be readily comprehended by those skilled in the art and is not intended as limiting the invention to the specific form disclosed therein.

In general, my invention may comprise a selfpropelled projectile such as a rocket, to which is rigidly attached a receptacle which contains a series of bundles, batches, stacks, or piles of the material which it is desired to distribute. These bundles or batches of material are arranged serially and each batch or bundle is separated from the other by a small expelling charge. Means is provided to successively re each expelling charge after the projectile has traveled a certain portion of its trajectory, so that as the projectile continues on its way there will be released and projected rearwardly at desired intervals a batch or bundle of the material it is desired to distribute.

In the drawing, the reference numeral I0 refers to a self-propelled projectile of the rocket type having guide iins or charge l2. A receptacle or container I4 is rigidly supported from the projectile body I0 by means of the struts or braces I3. Within the container Iii is placed a series of bundles, batches, stacks, or piles of the material I5 which it is desired to distribute. Each bundle or batch of material is separated from the other by a quantity of expelling change I. A fuse I'I has an end I9 situated within the propellant charge I2 of the rocket I c so that the fuse will be ignited after a certain amount of rocket propellant charge has been burned. The fuse Il is led down through one oi the struts or braces I3 into the upper portion of the container ILS so that contact is made with each expelling charge I6, situated between each batch or bundle of material within the container Ill. After the container I4 has been loaded it is closed by means of a plug I8. The plug I8 may be tted into the end of the container I4 in a manner similar to the waddng in a shot-gun shell.

In operation, the rocket I0 will be launched either from an aircraft in flight or from a stationary or moving platform on the ground. After the projectile has been in liight a certain length of time the end I9 of the fuse I1 will become ignited. The time at which this occurs depends upon the rate at which the propellant I2 burns, and also the position the end I9 of the fuse I1 has with respect to the longitudinal dimensions of the propellant charge l2. When the burning fuse i? reaches the first expelling charge I6 in the container Ill the batch or bundle of material I5 will be blown rearwardly out of the container I4. A period of time will ensue until the burning fuse reaches the next expelling charge, at Which time the next bundle or batch of material will be expelled rearwardly out of the container into the air to float slowly to the earth below. This series of events will occur until all of the bundles 0r batches of material have been pushed out of the container Ill. The fuse I1 must be so proportioned that the last batch of material will leave the container I4 before the projectile has reached the end of its trajectory.

In the utilization of my method and device it is possible for the projectile to be launched from an airplane in flight in such manner that the carrying plane can elevate the trajectory of the,

projectile so that it will release the material at vvanes H and a propellant an altitude above the ceiling of any airplane.

The material which may be distributed by my device and method may be for example, propaganda leaflets, incendiary cards, powdered substances, or any other material that is capable of being distributed from the air.` The aforementioned are purely illustrative and, are not intended to limit th scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed is:

1. A device for distributing material, comprising a self-propelled projectile, a container supported by said projectile, a series4 of separated stacks of material positioned within said container, expelling means separatingA each of, said;

stacks of material, and means to actuate said expelling means in a successive order.

2. A device for distributing material, conripris-v ing a projectile, means within said, projectile, for causing its propulsion, a container attached to said projectile, aseries o g'sveparaedpiles of mate,-v rial positioned within saidcpntaner, expelling means, separating each of said piles of material, and/a fuse leading from said first named profp'ulson means 't9 Sadexnelline means.

3. A device for distributing material, comprisdetermined period of time after initiation of night of said projectile.

MORRIS R. JEPPSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the nie,l of,v this patent:

Number Name Date 39,636 Felt Aug. 25, 1863 262,240. Newby K-. Aug; 8, 1882 585,805. VSZilln-zlmi July 6, 189,7` 645,135-, Scalona 1 Mar. 13, 1900; 1,236,736 Miller Aug; 14, 19117: 25, 1,399,040 Mansfield 1 July 8, 1919 

